A rectifier circuit is described that converts a radio-frequency (RF) alternating current (AC) electrical energy into direct current (DC) energy. The RF-DC rectifier circuit accepts RF energy as an input signal and generates a DC signal. At low power or in linear operations, a rectifier circuit can be used as a detector for the purpose of accurately quantifying the strength level of a RF signal. At high power or in nonlinear operations, a rectifier circuit can be used as a RF-DC converter for the purpose of converting the RF signal to a DC signal efficiently.
Rectifier circuits may be used to recover wasted energies that otherwise would be terminated in resistive dummy loads employed, for example, in combiners of power amplifiers. This is done by replacing the resistive dummy loads with reflective rectifier circuits. Such circuits may have narrow band responses and tend to reflect signals outside of the narrow band. Such circuits can inject self-generated harmonic or inter-modulation products back into an external input circuit, such as power amplifiers.
Artificial transmission lines may employ diodes as shunt elements for use in various low-energy applications, including video detectors, RF digital pulse fall-time compression circuits, and voltage clippers.